Many California growers can’t find buyers as the industry produces more wine grapes than the market wants. Wine consumption is declining globally as people drink less.
It’s harvest time in California wine country, but many growers are struggling to sell their grapes as changing drinking habits have caused demand to plunge. The decline is forcing some growers to tear out vineyards that their families have grown for generations.
Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing prices paid for grapes to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production. Many growers are having to decide whether to harvest at a loss, leave grapes on the vine or replace vineyards with crops more in demand such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios and olives.
Third-generation grower Bill Berryhill said it means another year of losing money and wasting hundreds of tons of healthy grapes.
Then why is everything still $40/bottle? This is some bs “nobody wants to work anymore” logic. I stopped drinking California wine because the prices kept going up but my wages haven’t.
As a producer, you have to cover your costs and still try to make a profit.
In California they have maaaaaaaaaaaaaaassive tax breaks (i.e. negative land taxes) and subsidized/free water. The labor is all oppressed undocumented workers below minimum wage. How are European producers able to hit $5/bottle at the same quality level?
It’s just greed and “brand reputation management” that keeps prices high in California.
It’s like rent, they can’t drop the price because the price is only ever supposed to go up. They would rather pour it down the drain or sell it to trader joes without a label than sell it for a lower price.
Even the “sell it to Kirkland” California wine is still 20 bucks.